Poll: Who's the worst starting Center in the NBA?

[Jvalin]

People keep rejecting the idea that the C's should upgrade the Center position, cause we'll risk having chemistry issues / we already have 4 Centers / we should develop Timelord / you name it.

Straightforward question: Who's the worst starting Center in the NBA? Cause if it ain't Theis, he's definitely in the conversation.

Feel free to propose other names if you see fit. I believe most of the guys I mentioned doesn't deserve to be on this list, but I just wanted to include plenty of options.


*I edited the poll and replaced Carter Jr. with Bryant.

[keevsnick]

While I appreciate the effort I think you very easily could have left a couple of these  off the list. Wendell Carter Jr is 12/10 on 55% from the field and decent defensive, he's not in the conversation. Thompson has been half a step better than that. Baynes has been great for Pho when healthy.

[Csfan1984]

That's a tough call but think I'm leaning toward Knicks. Taj and Randle are strictly PFs to me. While Powell is also just a PF he still plays next to Porzingas. I take healthy Theis over most that list. Problem for me is Theis doesn't stay healthy too long.

[SHAQATTACK]

knicks are awful

[rondofan1255]

Hawks

[Jvalin]

While I appreciate the effort I think you very easily could have left a couple of these  off the list. Wendell Carter Jr is 12/10 on 55% from the field and decent defensive, he's not in the conversation. Thompson has been half a step better than that. Baynes has been great for Pho when healthy.

Yeah, I agree. I ended up listing players from 15 different teams, cause it's half way till 30 (=total number of teams).

The players I exluded from the poll are: Jarrett Allen, Jokic, Drummond, Capela, Sabonis/Turner, Bam, BroLo, KAT, Adams, Vucevic, Embiid, Whiteside, Aldridge, Gobert, Thomas Bryant

[fairweatherfan]

A couple of guys that don't belong but my main takeaway from this is "man, there are a lot of bad starting centers in the NBA"

[keevsnick]

A couple of guys that don't belong but my main takeaway from this is "man, there are a lot of bad starting centers in the NBA"

I wonder how many positions you could do this with tho. Like if you listed the 15 worst SF's I  think you'd have some bad small forwards as well.

[Somebody]

Theis is definitely not one of the worst starting centres in the league. His defence has been awesome for us so far due to his ability to defend in space and protect the rim. It bears out in the stats too - we're ranked third in team defensive rating, and his defensive box plus minus is ranked third in the league. Obviously those stats have their deficiencies (DBPM doesn't measure the intangibles a player provides on defence and Theis may not be the main driver of the team's excellent defensive rating), but when you combine them with the eye test you can see that Theis is playing a pretty big role in being the anchor of an elite defence, his versatility on the defensive end of the court has been really handy for the Celtics.

Theis' offence has been pretty bad so far, but his defensive impact more than makes up for it, and it isn't like he's bogging our team offence down. That to me is a decent to pretty good starting centre in the league.

[Who]

Zubac, T.Gibson, D.Powell, Len, T.Bryant, Valanciunas, J.McGee are the worst starting centers in the NBA. That is 7 players. The bottom 25%.

Then comes Richaun Holmes, Cody Zeller, Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. That is 11 centers. So I'd have Theis at around the 26-40% percentile among starting centers. I'd also include Brook Lopez here.

After them you got Favors, Baynes, M.Gasol. Hassan Whiteside (should he drop a tier?). Oh and Capela. The middle of the pack but slightly better than the previous group.

Then Adams, Vucevic, Aldridge, Drummond. [should M.Gasol be here? Struggling so far this year but he might recover]. The good but unexceptional centers.

Then Myles Turner, Wendell Carter Jr, Bam and Gobert. The above average centers. Aldridge I reckon has aged out of this group although there is a case for him or Vucevic to be here also.

Then the stars like Jokic, Embiid, Towns. The star centers.

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There are guys like Anthony Davis, Markkanen and Porzingis who are not listed as centers but that I consider to be centers (as their primary position) who would be among those top names also. They would drop Theis back some more. All star centers.

[Jvalin]

Zubac, T.Gibson, D.Powell, Len, T.Bryant, Valanciunas, J.McGee are the worst starting centers in the NBA. That is 7 players. The bottom 25%.

Then comes Richaun Holmes, Cody Zeller, Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. That is 11 centers. So I'd have Theis at around the 26-40% percentile among starting centers. I'd also include Brook Lopez here.

After them you got Favors, Baynes, M.Gasol. Hassan Whiteside (should he drop a tier?). Oh and Capela. The middle of the pack but slightly better than the previous group.

Then Adams, Vucevic, Aldridge, Drummond. [should M.Gasol be here? Struggling so far this year but he might recover]. The good but unexceptional centers.

Then Myles Turner, Wendell Carter Jr, Bam and Gobert. The above average centers. Aldridge I reckon has aged out of this group although there is a case for him or Vucevic to be here also.

Then the stars like Jokic, Embiid, Towns. The star centers.

----------

There are guys like Anthony Davis, Markkanen and Porzingis who are not listed as centers but that I consider to be centers (as their primary position) who would be among those top names also. They would drop Theis back some more. All star centers.

I believe you underrate Thomas Bryant. He's a very good offensive Center and a decent rebounder/shot blocker as well due to size/length. Can't defend the pick n roll though cause he's slow footed.

I'm also a bit sceptical about ranking Carter Jr. among Turner, Bam and Gobert. Don't get me wrong, he's a very promising prospect, I just don't think he's that good yet.

Anyway, we disagree here and there (no way I'd rank BroLo among Theis and Zeller), but it's difficult to reach a consensus on player rankings.

Out of curiosity, where would you rank Jarrett Allen? For instance, would you rather have Carter Jr. or Jarrett Allen?

[Who]

Zubac, T.Gibson, D.Powell, Len, T.Bryant, Valanciunas, J.McGee are the worst starting centers in the NBA. That is 7 players. The bottom 25%.

Then comes Richaun Holmes, Cody Zeller, Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. That is 11 centers. So I'd have Theis at around the 26-40% percentile among starting centers. I'd also include Brook Lopez here.

After them you got Favors, Baynes, M.Gasol. Hassan Whiteside (should he drop a tier?). Oh and Capela. The middle of the pack but slightly better than the previous group.

Then Adams, Vucevic, Aldridge, Drummond. [should M.Gasol be here? Struggling so far this year but he might recover]. The good but unexceptional centers.

Then Myles Turner, Wendell Carter Jr, Bam and Gobert. The above average centers. Aldridge I reckon has aged out of this group although there is a case for him or Vucevic to be here also.

Then the stars like Jokic, Embiid, Towns. The star centers.

----------

There are guys like Anthony Davis, Markkanen and Porzingis who are not listed as centers but that I consider to be centers (as their primary position) who would be among those top names also. They would drop Theis back some more. All star centers.

I believe you underrate Thomas Bryant. He's a very good offensive Center and a decent rebounder/shot blocker as well due to size/length. Can't defend the pick n roll though cause he's slow footed.

I'm also a bit sceptical about ranking Carter Jr. among Turner, Bam and Gobert. Don't get me wrong, he's a very promising prospect, I just don't think he's there yet.

Anyway, we disagree here and there (no way I'd rank BroLo among Theis and Zeller), but it's difficult to reach a consensus on player rankings.

Out of curiosity, where would you rank Jarrett Allen? For instance, would you rather have Carter Jr. or Jarrett Allen?

Yeah, I had Wendell Carter in the tier below at first but I decided to bump him up because I feel he would look much better on a quality team rather than the garbage dump that Chicago have been this year. 

Jarrett Allen I would rate similarly to Steven Adams. I forgot to include him.

[Fafnir]

I couldn't decide between WCS/Randle/McGee

McGee is such a weird situation in that he is the 3rd best center on the team yet he starts. And its not like Howard/Davis are small ball Cs, they're true traditional Centers! Yet McGee is trotted out there as a starter....

[DefenseWinsChamps]

If you are talking about two-way play and general team play (not always measurable in box scores), I'd take Theis over Len, Cauley-Stein, Powell, Bryant, McGee, Zubac, and Holmes.

Theis definitely has a tough time with some matchups, but he is much more reliable all-around than those guys, even if his game and numbers aren't as flashy.

He's almost always in the right place. He sets good screens. He keeps the ball popping. He can shoot (he needs to shoot threes more). He is an average finisher.

[arctic 3.0]

Theis is definitely not one of the worst starting centres in the league. His defence has been awesome for us so far due to his ability to defend in space and protect the rim. It bears out in the stats too - we're ranked third in team defensive rating, and his defensive box plus minus is ranked third in the league. Obviously those stats have their deficiencies (DBPM doesn't measure the intangibles a player provides on defence and Theis may not be the main driver of the team's excellent defensive rating), but when you combine them with the eye test you can see that Theis is playing a pretty big role in being the anchor of an elite defence, his versatility on the defensive end of the court has been really handy for the Celtics.

Theis' offence has been pretty bad so far, but his defensive impact more than makes up for it, and it isn't like he's bogging our team offence down. That to me is a decent to pretty good starting centre in the league.

^this^